For undecided voters, plenty of debates in Congress race

September 22, 2012

Not sure who you will cast your vote for in the race for New York's new 21st Congressional District? Three upcoming debates could help.

The latest Siena Research Institute poll on the race shows that 8 percent of voters are still undecided with less than two months to go before the Nov. 6 election. Voters have three options for 21st District representative: incumbent Rep. Bill Owens, D-Plattsburgh; Watertown businessman Matt Doheny, who is running on the Republican, Conservative and Independence party lines; and Cancer Action NY activist Don Hassig, who is running on the Green Party line.

The first of three debates will be at 8 p.m. Tuesday at Queensbury High School. That debate will feature all three candidates, and it's preceded by a forum featuring candidates running for New York's 112th and 114th Assembly Districts.

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Then, at 7 p.m. Oct. 16, Owens and Doheny will participate in a debate at the Valcour Conference Center at SUNY Plattsburgh. It won't be open to the public, but it will be broadcast live on WPTZ-TV and at www.wptz.com.

Owens and Doheny will also debate at 7 p.m. Oct. 25 at Jefferson Community College in Watertown. The public will need tickets to attend, but there is no charge. YNN-TV will broadcast the debate live.

Doheny will also participate in a meet-the-candidate night at the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry's Ranger School in Wanakena at 7 p.m. Oct. 18.

For Hassig, Tuesday's debate in Queensbury will be important since he plans to head to Saskatchewan, Canada, in mid-October "to find camping gear that he and his brother left out there in 2008," according to the Watertown Daily Times.

"I would have liked to continue campaigning through the date of the election but my family is a high priority matter," Hassig told the newspaper. "I will be campaigning diligently through the month of September."